Lloyd Mifflin
by George J. Dance Lloyd Mifflin (September 15, 1846 - July 16, 1921) was an American poet and painter. Once called "America's greatest sonneteer," in his lifetime he published over 500 sonnets.Lloyd Mifflin (1846-1922), Sonnet Central. Web, Apr. 6, 2013. Life Mifflin was born and lived much of his life in Columbia, in Lancaster co., Pennsylvania, on the Susquehannah River. His mother, Elizabeth A. (Heise) (of German heritage), was born in Columbia and died when Lloyd was very young. His father, J. Huston Mifflin (of English Quaker descent), was Lloyd’s earliest teacher in drawing and sketching.lloyd Mifflin Collection, 1751-1965, LancasterHistory.org, Lancaster County Historical Society. Web, Apr. 6, 2013. Mifflin began studying drawing and sketching with his father at 14. He also was instructed by Thomas Moran in painting, and worked with Isaac Williams of Philadelphia for a short time. In 1869, he traveled to Europe where he studied with Henry Herzog at Dusseldorf, Germany; he also visited Italy, France, England, and Scotland. After he returned to Columbia, he continued painting scenes from along the Susquehanna, from Cooperstown, New York, to the Chesapeake Bay. As did most other painters of the time, he earned money from portraits. He turned to poetry late in life, publishing his earliest commercial collection,The Hills, in 1896. (He later wrote that the smell of paint had begun to make him sick.) The Hills was followed by At the Gates of Song, a collection of 150 sonnets that went through 3 editions. He published 11 more books of poetry, chiefly sonnets, over the next 18 years.Lloyd Mifflin Collection, 1835-1965, Pennsylvania State Archives, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Web, Apr. 6, 2013. Mifflin never married. He suffered a stroke in 1915 while completing his last collection of sonnets, As Twilight Falls, which was published in 1916. He survived another 5 years, enduring 2 more strokes and becomeing epileptic, before dying at his home in Columbia.Lucas Eugene Walker, Mifflin, Lloyd. Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Spring 2006. Web, Apr. 6, 2013. Recognition Mifflin's sonnets were highly praised in his lifetime. Publications Poetry *''Aldernere: A Pennsylvanian idyll''. Philadelphia: John Penington & Son, 1872. *''Ventures in Verse''. Columbia, PA: privately printed, 1876. *''The Hills''. New York & London: Transatlantic Publishing, 1895. *''At the Gates of Song: Sonnets. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1897; London: Henry Frowde, 1901. *The Slopes of Helicon, and other poems. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1898. *Echoes of Greek Idyls. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1899. *The Fields of Dawn, and later sonnets. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1900. *Castalian Days. London & New York: Henry Frowde, 1903. *An Ode on the Semi-centennial of Franklin and Marshall College. Mount Joy, PA: Hoffer Press, 1903. *Lyrics'' (chapbook). Mount Joy, PA: Hoffer Press, 1904. *''The Fleeing Nymph, and other verse. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1905. *Collected Sonnets'' (revised by the author). London: Henry Frowde, 1905. *''Sweet Polly's Mail''. Lancaster, PA: Lancaster County Historical Society, 1905/1906. *''My Lady of Dream. London & New York: Henry Frowde, 1906. *Towards the Uplands: Later poems. London & New York: Henry Frowde, 1908. *Flower and Thorn: Later poems. London & New York: Henry Frowde, 1909. *''The Conestoga River. Lancaster, PA: New Era, 1912. *''Ode to Gertrude on Her Sixth Birthday''. Portland, ME: Thomas B. Mosher, 1913. *''As Twilight Falls: Poems. New York: Oxford University Press, 1916. Other *Year-book : Birth-days of distinguished Americans chiefly of the eighteenth century: with quotations from the poetical writings of Lloyd Mifflin. Philadelphia: Levytype, 1897. ''Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Lloyd Mifflin, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 15, 2014. See also *Sonneteers *List of U.S. poets References Fonds *Lloyd Mifflin Collection 1751-1965 at Lancaster History *Lloyd Mifflin Collection in the Pennsylvania State Archives Notes External links ;Poems *"The Flight" *11 Sonnets by Lloyd Mifflin in An American Anthology 1787-1900. *Lloyd Mifflin (1846-1922) at Sonnet Central (5 sonnets) *Lloyd Mifflin at PoemHunter (14 poems) ;Audio / video *"The Flight" at LibriVox ;Books *Lloyd Mifflin at Amazon.com ;About *Mifflin, Lloyd at the Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Category:20th-century poets Category:American poets Category:American painters Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Sonneteers Category:People from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania